Motor Voter Law Adds Up To Big Zero

OUR COUNTY

November 7, 1996|By Don Boyett, Seminole County Editor

It's over. Well, all but the various spins on why this candidate lost, that referendum won. Here are some observations. In Seminole, about 65 percent of registered voters turned out. Not bad, in that most elections attract fewer than half of the voters. Still, it was not good for a presidential election year. Four years ago, this county posted a turnout of 85 percent. What happened?

The answer is to be found in arithmetic and logic.

I really do hate to say I told you so, but the so-called motor voter law has worked just as I predicted. Scads more people are registered to vote, but those new potential voters, lured by the ease of registering, didn't vote. As I have said again and again, registering is one thing; voting is quite another.

The law, as you may recall, gives people the chance to register when they get drivers licenses or apply for food stamps or other welfare programs. That, claimed the League of Women Voters and other naive promoters of this simpleton idea, would make it easier for people to register; hence, more people would vote.

Logic, though, dictates that those who failed to register before motor voter - which, in truth, was not all that difficult - were failing to vote for reasons other than not being registered. It was too much trouble, or they were not interested.

So after spending perhaps $2 million in Seminole alone and increasing the bureaucracy to implement the motor voter law, we have more people registered than ever but about the same number voting as in the past. Do the arithmetic and - surprise - a lower percentage of registered voters came out.

So much for making government smaller, simpler and cheaper.

Not surprisingly, noncity voters in Seminole told county commissioners they would not be interested in paying for stormwater solutions. That's not surprising because no one made a case for the straw-vote question. Voters will say yes to more taxes if a solid case is made, but only one body made that case. Case in point: a $3.5 million bond issue in Oviedo for parks and sidewalks.

Maybe if there had been a lot of flooding - as there was last year and earlier this year - more would have given commissioners the green light. Then again, perhaps not.

Sanford voters did the right thing by moving their city elections to the spring - away from early December - and reducing the qualifying period. Now the question is, will other Seminole cities follow this smart move and shift their election dates?

It's not surprising that the third city charter change on the Sanford ballot failed - it would have placed the police and fire chiefs under the city manager, as are all other city division heads. No one made a case for the change; and voters tend to think it's better to have their elected leaders running the show.

Problem with that is, rather than having one boss, the chiefs will continue to have five. The police chief will continue to serve as chauffeur to the commissioner overseeing his department. Sanford will continue to have a second- to third-rate Police Department, and citizens will continue to wonder why they, rather than the police, must chase off drug dealers and prostitutes in their neighborhoods.

And here's a head-scratcher: In Longwood, voters approved five of six ''housekeeping'' changes in their charter. The only one to get nixed was one that actually gave the public more oversight.

Presently, the City Commission can create a new city department by simple resolution. One commissioner moves it be done, there is a vote, and it's done. The change would have required an ordinance to do that, which means the proposal would have to be advertised and two public hearings be held at which citizens could speak for or against the measure.

Again, no one got out and campaigned for these amendments, all of which were common-sense, good-government measures. When will commissioners ever learn - even good ideas must be sold to the electorate?

Memo to all candidates: The election is over, so it's time to get all those signs down, out of sight, gone, poof.